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 Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:23 pm |
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Hi all,
Well, I took my first step towards repairing my DISASTER of a credit report. I sent 4 debt validation letters! I sent them Certified mail, with return receipt. I am pretty nervous and excited at the same time. I followed all the tips that I have received here, and I thank all of you for helping me with this process. When I found this forum I didn't even know what a debt validation letter was!! I am pretty sure that at least 2 of these accounts are not mine, so hopefully those will eventually be deleted and my credit score will go up a bit. I still have a lot of steps to take....once I take care of these smaller problems on my credit, and I have a more steady income from my job, I will probably look at debt consolidation to manage my horrendous amount of medical bills on the credit report. Anyway, I will keep you guys updated on what happens next, and again, thank you so much for the support guys and gals!
~Mary 
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Mary
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Joined: 23 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:45 pm |
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You have made the first move towards repairing your credit. Now the companies receiving your validation letter have to prove you the accounts and their legitimate existence. They are bound to reply within the fixed time period. If you don't hear from them within the 30 days period, you have your base made stronger and contact the bureau with an explanation that the said company failed to validate your debt.
As per the FDCPA laws, the companies receiving your validation letter should not call you until the debt has been validated. Neither they can hit your file nor can they enter any negative remark. If they have already done it, they need to prove the item in the validation process or remove the item permanently from the file. In any case, the company tends to violate the laws; you have a FDCPA umbrella that can be used for protection and preventing willful injury.
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john
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| Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:59 pm |
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I'm looking forward to the next steps that you mention, because I know 1 of the accounts isn't mine, and I'm almost positive on another one of the accounts. Thanks for your post John!
~Mary
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Mary
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| Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:10 pm |
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You have thrown the ball at their court. Now it's for them to return back your move. Keep us posted.
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john
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| Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:56 pm |
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Good luck waydizzy..I hope you hear back from everyone. I sent out 8 and got only one response back and it has been almost two months.
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TMD
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| Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:28 pm |
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Well TMD, I'll take what I can get I guess...at least I am doing my part!
~Mary
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Mary
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| Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 5:58 pm |
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It sounds like you took the first steps, Mary. Good for you! I received one back today regarding an old debt of my husband's. They are going to remove it because we've shown the account was paid two years ago. It was a mistake on their end. They were trying to collect on the account twice.
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CowampChicken
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| Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 6:06 pm |
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Yep, it's smooth sailing from here on out...as long as I start making some money at work
~Mary
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Mary
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 7:23 pm |
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Welp, here's a small update...the first letter was accepted! Guess we'll see how this goes. I wonder how long it will take for them to respond? 
~Mary 
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Mary
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:16 am |
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OK, now 3 of them out of 4 have been accepted. *waiting*
~Mary
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Mary
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:30 am |
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Good luck! I hope everything works out well for you.
_________________
Life isn't like a bowl of cherries or peaches....
It's more like a jar of jalapenos.
What you do today,
may burn your butt tomorrow!
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Taquita
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 11:07 am |
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Mary,
CAs should respond within 30 days. If they cannot, you can send the second letter with copy of the previous one.
_________________
Read my thoughts about Debt and Credit.
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stanley
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:00 pm |
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Hi Stan,
Make that 4 out of 4 accepted...nobody rejected the letters! LOL! That's a good sign, I guess. I am keeping VERY good track of dates and such, so I will stay on top of the 30-day period. I am even printing out the e-mail that the USPS sends me to update the status of each letter. I am going to do this the right way!!
~Mary
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Mary
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:16 pm |
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Well Mary, keep in mind that you may not hear back from everyone. I have sent out SO MANY validation request and only received two back--and I've been at this for a year now--. One of the two, wasn't even a validation--its what the CA was calling a validation but its not what I asked for. (the last six payments made on the account in 2002). The other one was a medical debt. I've noticed that when you ask collection agencies to validate medical debts, you'll get one back to you almost every time! No one else has responded. And it really puts me between a rock and a hard place because these collection agencies aren't on my report anyways, so its not like if they don't validate, they have to remove themselves from my report. They're not on it. But you know what, looking at it from a different angle, since they can't or haven't validated, they can't go on my report, so at this point, what I'm doing is keeping them off. The original creditor is still on and reporting me as charged off. So keep in mind, you might not get the response that you're looking for (on the ones that are really yours) but at the same sense, if they're not reporting on your credit report, then they can't until they validate it to you. so something else for you to think about. Also on the two that you think aren't yours, if you don't get a validation back, send your dispute to the credit bureaus, they HAVE to investigate them, and if they turn out NOT to be yours, they have no choice but to take them off.
shirley
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imkimssister
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:43 am |
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Well, I figured I wouldn't hear back from everybody. None of these are medical debts, so we'll see what happens. Actually, my medical debts were actually "joint accounts" (or actually it says "participant on account") so I was thinking of trying to have them taken off my credit report and keep them on my ex's report. He said he would write a letter stating that he wants to do that. Kind of the same thing you did for your husband, right? I'm hoping this will help, because there are like 6 medical bills on there that are "participant on account". That would be a huge boost in my score if those were taken off! Not that I'm counting on it, I'm just hoping they will go for it.
And as far as the ones that I don't think are mine...I hope they aren't mine anyway! I would love to get those off my credit. I wonder how big of a difference that will make in my score. Looking foward to finding out though!!!
~Mary
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Mary
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